Many ice cream stores feature ice cream cones having baked cones, called waffle cones, freshly baked on the premises for serving their scoops of ice cream, instead of, or in addition to, the usual pre-baked, mass-produced cones. By baking such cones on the premises, customers are attracted not only by the improved taste and texture of the waffle cones but also by the aroma created by the baking process. Such waffle cones are baked from a batter which is thicker and more cookie-like than that used for breakfast-type waffles, and are cooked thinner than breakfast waffles, so that they are malleable to form a cone when hot and harden when cool. Such waffle cones are baked on-site using manual waffle cone griddles also called pizelle irons which are generally round. Typically these will consist of a pair of heated griddle plates, each having a fixed lower heated griddle plate and a pivoting heated upper griddle plate which can be manually pivoted by an attached handle into, or out of, position above the fixed griddle plate. A timer may also be provided for signalling by a bell or buzzer when a chosen baking time has elapsed. The ice cream store employee opens one or both of the pre-heated griddles, pours the desired amount of batter onto the lower fixed griddle plate to form a circular cake or cookie, closes the upper pivoting griddle plate onto the lower griddle plate and starts the timer. When the desired baking time has elapsed the timer emits a signal, and the employee raises the upper griddle and removes the hot, baked cake from the lower griddle. The hot, thin cake, which is flexible when hot, is then wrapped around a cone-shaped form to form a cone, removed from the form and placed in a holder to cool and harden.
A problem with this existing method of baking waffle cones is that it requires constant attention from the employee/attendant. Often the same employee who is charged with baking cones also must serve ice cream to customers. If the employee is busy when the timer on the waffle griddle signals that the cake is cooked, then the cake may be over-cooked or burned.
Baking machines for baking breakfast-type waffles are known which automatically eject the waffle when cooked. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,047 issued Mar. 26, 1974 to Freeman discloses an apparatus to bake breakfast-type waffles in which a timer is provided for timing a baking period, at the end of which a servo-motor is activated to release a spring-driven lever to raise the upper griddle plate and lift the waffles off the lower plate. Such an arrangement would be unsuitable for waffle cones in that the waffle would quickly cool and harden in the raised position before the attendant could form the waffle into a cone.
Also, many restaurants provide pannini grills for baking pannini sandwiches. These are manual grills which require the attendant to manually lower the top cooking element onto the sandwich and raise it when the cooking is complete. Consequently sandwiches are often burned or overcooked.
There is therefore a need for an ice cream cone baking machine or pannini sandwich grill which automatically terminates the baking procedure when the cake is sufficiently cooked without allowing the cake to either cool or overcook.